bajalera
Super Nomad
Posts: 1875
Registered: 10-15-2003
Location: Santa Maria CA
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Torch It!
Mexican recipes often call for peeling chiles and, to a lesser extent, tomatoes, by blackening the skins over a gas flame--which seems to take
forever.
The Mesa Grill Cookbook suggests doing this with a gas torch, so I tried that. What a pleasant surprise! Took no time at all, and it's easy to get the
flame into that inconvenient cavity at the stem end of poblanos.
Upscale kitchen shops sell fancy designer torches in flimsy cardboard containers for around $30, but I bought one in a sturdy little plastic box at
Ace Hardware for less than $10.
A fringe benefit: A torch is a tool, and tools are guy things. Ergo, some guys don't mind blackening veggies--if they get to do it with a torch.
Lera
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
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How did Steve survive
having you as a Mom? I would have laughed myself to death.
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M_Man
Junior Nomad
Posts: 60
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Truckee, CA
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Eye Protection
When you're torching those chili skins off, please wear eye protection. The torched skin fairly leaps off the chili under the torch!
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bajalera
Super Nomad
Posts: 1875
Registered: 10-15-2003
Location: Santa Maria CA
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Thanks, Man, for the warning, but the skins of the chiles I've charred with my cheapo less-than-$9 torch have never leaped off in a threatening
manner.
Either you have an industrial-strength torch, or you char the chiles longer than I do. Or maybe we're using different types of chiles?
Lera
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Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
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Mood: Happy!
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bajalera--about the poblanos--does the meat of the chile get cooked too? What a great idea...I'm a landscaper so I've already got my mapgas torch for
irrigation work......I'll be trying that tonight!! Thanks.
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bajalou
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4459
Registered: 3-11-2004
Location: South of the broder
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Mapgas sounds like just the thing to match the heat of the Chilis. And do it in an instant too. Great idea.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area
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bajalera
Super Nomad
Posts: 1875
Registered: 10-15-2003
Location: Santa Maria CA
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Mexitron, you could zap the chiles long enough to cook them, but I don't since I use them in chiles rellenos or other recipes that involve further
cooking.
How great to be a landscaper! (Do you ever drive by places you've worked on, just for the fun of admiring your past efforts?) Mind telling me how a
gas torch is used in irrigation?
Lera
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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